- by Julie Tam, FOX 41 News

Some people in Kentuckiana are in an uproar over LG&E's plans to discharge coal waste into the Ohio River.

Our drinking water comes from the Ohio River, and we are downstream from where LG&E wants a permit to discharge toxic byproducts from its Trimble County coal plant right into the Ohio.

LG&E is in the middle of expanding its coal ash storage pond by adding taller walls to hold in about twice as much wastewater. People from Trimble County to Louisville and beyond are afraid the pond will leak into ground water, or worse, spill into the Ohio River.

"The health of people are at stake," Margaret Stewart, a concerned Louisville resident, said. "The health of the life in the river is at stake."

It happened in Tennessee in December 2008. A coal ash pond spilled into the Emory River and flooded hundreds more acres. But LG&E says it won't happen here. "We believe it's a safe plant. It gets inspected daily by us and it gets inspected by our regulators as well," spokesperson Chip Keeling said.

Dozens of skeptics and opponents wore green arm bands at a public hearing Thursday night, hoping the Kentucky Division of Water will listen to them and not give LG&E a permit to discharge coal waste into the Ohio, which would add to the pollution the plant already produces. Environmental groups like the Sierra Club say toxic chemicals from the plant can cause cancer, kidney disease, and fragile bones for people living nearby.

"The metals, mercury, primarily mercury, are dangerous to any pregnant women, to any children under the age of six," Virginia Bush, a Louisville nurse, said.

LG&E says the Kentucky Division of Water has until July to approve or reject a permit for the Trimble County plant to discharge coal waste into the Ohio River.